A couple members of Swarm (Devin Howells and I) have a thing for concrete. There is something special about concrete as a material. In its normal context it is practically invisible- not because of physical properties, but because it is so common that it is ignored. Taken out of its context, though, concrete becomes surprising, and unexpected. It suddenly changes. What once was invisible, in a new context becomes a centerpiece.

That, and it is really fun to work with. It is messy, gritty, and raw. That is why we love to build furniture using concrete. There's something very satisfying about taking such a raw material and refining it. Combine that with plywood, and you're going to blow some minds. More renderings, and some build photos after the jump.

In addition to night stands, we're also building a coffee table. The renderings don't show it, but we've embeded a river of blue crushed glass into the concrete surface. We'll post more photos as the build progresses. Suffice it to say, this is one sweet coffee table!

Here are the build photos of the coffee tables. With a little finish work, they'll be ready for use. We'll update with more photos soon.

Admit it- these are beautiful. They are still rough, and were shot on an iPhone 3Gs in low light, so the quality isn't quite there. Studio shots to follow on completion.